The conventional vacuum cleaners are generally equipped with a nozzle attachment in the form of a suction box 21 of a rectangular box-like shape as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the suction box 21 having a brush 22, for example, along the front and rear sides of an intake opening 23 which opens on the bottom side of the suction box 21 and which is in communication with a suction pipe 24 of the cleaner. The just-mentioned suction pipe 24 is connected to the suction box 21 on the upper side of and at right angles with the longitudinal direction of the latter, so that the suction box 21 can be moved back and forth together with the suction pipe 24 in a vacuuming operation in a direction perpendicular to the length of the suction box 21.
Ordinary vacuum cleaners of this sort, which are originally designed to suck in dust on carpeted floors or the like, are usually provided with various additional measures for adapting themselves to wooden floors or Tatami floors. However, it is often the case that such additional measures are still found unsuitable for vacuuming wooden or Tatami floors of relatively small houses although they suit vacuuming operations on relatively broad carpeted floors or the like.
On the other hand, the brooms which have been conventionally used for cleaning floor surfaces are no more than a tool for sweeping and gathering dust on a floor surface and therefore cannot be as conveniently used for cleaning a broad floor surface as vacuum cleaners which can remove dust by sucking action. However, especially in case of the so-called Japanese style houses with small rooms, the broom is very conveniently used for sweeping and cleaning up dust in narrow spaces or in corner portions by changing the direction of the tip end of the broom.
Therefore, it is desirable for a vacuum cleaner to have additionally the broom-like handiness so that it can be used very conveniently on both broad and narrow floor surfaces even by those people who are accustomed to brooms only.